The present state of the GTA Real Estate Market

Excerpted from The Toronto Star:
This article is a recap of the state of the housing market in the GTA. After we've been thru a buying frenzy that drove prices up followed by a slow down- this article sort of says it all- that house prices will keep on going up confirming the need for every family to be a homeowner as soon as feasible.

New home sales in GTA plunge, prices soar in July

House prices rose 45% over last year and condos were up 40%.

There were 7,801 new homes on the market in July, a record low, that is down from 16,900 units last year and 28,358 10 years ago.   (Rene Johnston / Toronto Star File Photo)  

By Tess Kalinowski

Real Estate Reporter

Thu., Aug. 24, 2017

Despite a dramatic year-over-year drop in sales volumes of newly constructed home in July, prices in the Toronto region rose, with the industry association saying it expects a record year.

There were 85% fewer single-family homes sold in July compared to the same month last year, according to the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).

But the cost of a detached, semi-detached or townhouse averaged about $1.32 million, a 45 per cent year-over-year increase.

Condos, which accounted for 92 per cent of new home sales in July, also rose in price by 40 per cent to an average of $665,041.

The cost per square foot of an apartment or stacked townhome averaged $764, up from $594 last July.

Article Continued Below

Condos also got bigger, averaging 871 sq. ft., compared to 801 sq. ft. a year ago.

While the number of condos sold was down 35 per cent year over year, the year-to-date sales volume has actually increased 51 per cent and is double the 10-year sales average as more consumers look to condos as an affordable way to get into the housing market.

That's a stark contrast to the 50 per cent year-to-date decline in new single-family home sales, said BILD vice-president of communications Michelle Noble.

July 2017 Resale Housing Market Data With Input From TREB President

The chart below shows the path as to how the retail housing market behaved up to last month as explained by the excerpted article below. Prices went downward from the April high to last month but it is worth noting that it will start an upward trend come September as borne by the past years data. The 2nd to the last paragraph also bears this out- prices averaged 5% higher than last year's.

GTA REALTORS® RELEASE JULY RESALE HOUSING MARKET FIGURES
 Excerpted from Treb Watch

TORONTO, ONTARIO, August 3, 2017 – Toronto Real Estate Board President Tim Syrianos announced that Greater Toronto Area REALTORS® reported 5,921 residential transactions through TREB’s MLS® System in July 2017.  This result was down by 40.4 per cent on a year-over-year basis, led by the detached market segment – both in the City of Toronto and surrounding regions.

While sales were down, the number of new listings reported were only slightly (+5.1 per cent) above last year’s level.

“A recent release from the Ontario government confirmed TREB’s own research which found that foreign buyers represented a small proportion of overall home buying activity in the GTA.  Clearly, the year-over-year decline we experienced in July had more to do with psychology, with would-be home buyers on the sidelines waiting to see how market conditions evolve,” said Mr. Syrianos.

“Summer market statistics are often not the best indicators of housing market conditions.  We generally see an uptick in sales following Labour Day, as a greater cross-section of would-be buyers and sellers start to consider listing and/or purchasing a home.  As we move through the fall, we should start to get a better sense of the impacts of the Fair Housing Plan and higher borrowing costs,” said TREB CEO John DiMichele.

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) Composite Benchmark price was up by 18 per cent on a year-over-year basis.  However, the Composite Benchmark was down by 4.6 per cent relative to June.  Monthly MLS® HPI declines were driven more so by single-family home types.  The average selling price for all home types combined was up by five per cent year-over-year to $746,218.

“Home buyers benefitted from more choice in the market this July compared to the same time last year.  This was reflected in home prices and home price growth.  Looking forward, if we do see some would-be home buyers move off the sidelines and back into the market without a similar increase in new listings, we could see some of this newfound choice erode.  The recent changes in the sales and price trends have masked the fact that housing supply remains an issue in the GTA,” said Jason Mercer, TREB’s Director of Market Analysis.